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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Necrons, my first impression

Last night I got to play a couple games with the new necron list I was posting about here. I played against Deathwing twice at 1k and 1500. I won both games, but they were very difficult and it seemed like the 'crons were very hit and miss.

Boo!

I like the mechanics of the necrons. They get a bit ridiculous when the 6's are plentiful. But if you are rolling average or below average then it's a bit underwhelming. I think the problems I was seeing were a bit magnified against Deathwing, but it's always good to play against your worst matchup. That way you can figure out a way to counter them. Dark Eldar seem like they would be an even worse matchup, with their speed and ability to make the crons take a lot of saves.

Here's a quick review of the units and how they performed in my first couple games

Surflord
The sweep attack ability is really cool. The ability to single out wounds on a 6 is kinda neat, but it's another one of those things that's just a little bonus. It can't be relied on, but I could see how it would be cool against guys that don't have a 3++. The really cool thing is that you can move 12" over a unit, get out, and then assault something else. He is pretty versatile, but a little vulnerable to things in CC. B+

Immortals
Immortals with Tesla are pretty awesome. The amount of firepower you get from a full squad at 24" is almost equivalent to a full Grey knight squad with psybolt. Adding in a cryptek not only increases their effectiveness, but makes the scoring unit more durable. I really think they missed an opportunity with the crypteks here. A cryptek that buffed certain squads or added something to their shooting seems like it would be a good design.A

Annihilation barges
The only criticism I have against these is that they are so freakin slow! They put out a ridiculous amount of firepower when you can keep them stationary. The main gun being twin linked makes rolling 6's much more likely. AV 13 and night fighting keeps them safe against most ranged shooting. Just don't expect to get them too far.B+

Warriors
I took these guys to walk onto an objective and that's what they did. I think they might show a little more promise against a vehicle heavy list, but they didn't do much either game. C

Wraiths
The Wraiths are interesting. The dice were very hot/cold on them. Either I would get several rends or none at all. Again, they are not that awesome against TH/SS termies, but they are very good at holding them in place. Again, they would probably excel against vehicles and less combat focused units.
I made a huge mistake in the first game and multicharged the scarabs into the same combat as the wraiths. This let my opponent get into the combat with another DW unit and cause me to have to take 30 no retreat saves. I won't be doing that again!B-

Scarabs
The scarabs were super ineffective in both games. I played 6 spyders in the first game as well and had a good 20-some before charging into that doomed multi-assault. They are just not very good against elite infantry it seems. Even in the one assault I got them into a vehicle, they only hit twice on 40 attacks! Haha! Stupid dice. I know they are better than this, and I'm not going to give up on them, but for these two games I've gotta rate them low.F

I'm pretty happy with how the games played out with the exception of the scarabs. The necrons seem a bit underpowered if you roll average though. If you roll nothing but 6's, then I could see them being quite dominant, but they remind me of certain red cards in Magic. They are just not consistent. I will continue to try out my list against different armies and see how they go. I really can't complain too much since I won, but so far I'm only moderately impressed.